Here I've started to write reviews for the games that I've purchased over the last
twelve years. (This is 140 games, or one per month for twelve full years!)

Games with a solid bullet are ones that I've played extensively and can effectively critique.

Games with a solid square are ones that my wife has played extensively, and with which I have vicarious familiarity.

Games with an open circle are ones that I've purchased, but haven't played enough to properly review.

Adventure Games
These involve solving puzzles to find your way from the beginning to the end, and are
therefore typically played only once. After that, you know the solutions to all the puzzles,
so it's little fun to play the game again. The artwork in these games tends to be superlative.

Role-Playing Games
These games focus on one or more characters with whom you identify. You grow these
characters over the course of the game in order to overcome ever-greater obstacles (foes).
As in the Adventure games, there are typically puzzles to solve, and once you win the
game, you know all the solutions.

Terrestrial Strategy Games
These require you to build and deploy military units to overcome your opponents. Most
require some sort of base-construction and resource-gathering. Some are real-time, and some
are turn-based. A few have rudimentary plots, but most just have "campaigns" composed of a
sequence of missions. Replayability is generally good.

Age of Empires &nbsp(Ensemble Studios & Microsoft, 1997, Win95)

Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome &nbsp(Ensemble Studios & Microsoft, 1998, Win95/98)

Space Simulations
These simulate the experience of piloting spacecraft, usually in combat situations.
Though these might arguably be lumped under the "Action" games below, they're a little
more sophisticated, and seem to deserve a separate category. Most of these games have
mission campaigns to lend some cohesiveness to the otherwise random violence.

Action Games
These are typically first-person shooters, with little plot beyond a rudimentary sequence
of missions. Some people refer to the gameplay as "run-and-gun". This isn't necessarily a
BAD thing -- it leads to extensive replayability.

Military Simulations
Derived from the earliest flight simulators, these recreate the experience of piloting
military craft, whether airplanes, helicopters, tanks, battleships, or submarines.
Most have mission campaigns.

Board & Puzzle Games
The earliest computer games copied traditional board games, though usually with the computer
as an opponent. Chess was the premier example of this. The genre has evolved a bit, so that
some of the more modern "board games" have never actually existed outside of the computer
(e.g. - Tetris).

Alley Cat &nbsp(Synapse & IBM, 1984, DOS)

BattleChess &nbsp(Interplay, 1988, DOS)

ChessMaster 2000 &nbsp(The Software Toolworks, 1986, DOS)

ChessMaster 4000 Turbo &nbsp(The Software Toolworks, 1993, DOS)

Kasparov's Gambit &nbsp(Electronic Arts, 1995, DOS)

Lemmings &nbsp(DMA Design & Psygnosis, 1991, DOS)

Monopoly &nbsp(Don Phillip Gibson, 1987, DOS)

Sports Games
These are computer adaptations of sports games. As a general rule, I really hate these
things, since I can't see the point in playing computer basketball when you can go outside
and get some fresh air while shooting hoops for real. These games only catch my interest if
they're technical masterpieces.